The St. Paul police crime lab is moving toward seeking accreditation in fingerprint analysis, and two people will conduct drug testing for the city off-site at an accredited state lab, according to the city council president.

Kathy Lantry and other council members on Wednesday, Jan. 23, took a tour of the crime lab, which came under fire last year when a hearing disclosed flawed drug-testing practices; a judge is considering admissibility of suspected drug evidence in four cases. The police chief halted the lab's drug testing and fingerprint analysis last summer, but the lab recently resumed fingerprint analysis by certified analysts.

Assistant Police Chief Kathy Wuorinen, who oversees the lab, told three council members Wednesday that the crime lab is looking at keeping fingerprint analysis and crime-scene processing in-house, while sending drug testing to two St. Paul-funded positions at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension lab to work on city cases, Lantry said Thursday.

The city crime lab, which is unaccredited, would seek accreditation in fingerprint analysis, Lantry said.

"One of the things that Kathy (Wuorinen) talked about, which was part of what we wanted to hear, was they have decided to put the resources where they think they'll get the most benefit for the city of St. Paul," Lantry said.

The lab wants a quick turnaround for cases, especially for fingerprints, Lantry said.

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For example: A house is broken into, and police collect fingerprints at the scene. If police can't test the fingerprints themselves, they would have to send them to the BCA for analysis. It likely wouldn't be a top-priority case because violent crimes receive priority over property crimes.

In a case such as that, it could take a while to receive the fingerprint results and to see if they match someone who is in a law-enforcement database, Lantry said. BCA spokeswoman Jill Oliveira said the average turnaround time for property-crime evidence is just less than two months.

"In the meantime, the person has committed tons of other burglaries," Lantry said. "These things, where police think there's solvability and they can get information quickly, those are the things they want to concentrate on."

St. Paul police spokesman Howie Padilla said no crime lab plans have been finalized. Police are awaiting final reports from consultants, who have been working on improving the lab, before commenting on the direction the lab is heading, Padilla said.

Oliveira also said nothing has been finalized between St. Paul police and the BCA for drug testing. The BCA has a relationship with Minneapolis police, which funds several positions in the BCA lab to work on its cases, she said. If time allows, the people also do BCA work, Oliveira said.

Lantry said she thinks changes to the St. Paul crime lab would require an additional $350,000 to $500,000 a year.

The St. Paul City Council approved $1 million in contingency funds for the crime lab in December, and the police department must come to the council with a budget amendment to use the funds, Lantry said. She expects some of the funds, about $150,000, will be used for physical changes to the lab space, partly for efficiency and for changes required for accreditation.